Aperture-optional head-mounted low-light fundus imaging device
An aperture-optional head-mounted low-light fundus camera is provided. A fundus camera is configured to enclose a patient's eyes, orient imaging paths of image sensors and lenses towards the patient's eyes without requiring integral aperture stops within the enclosure, and provide non-pupillary low-light illumination for fundus imaging within the enclosure. The aperture-optional head-mounted low-light fundus camera can be worn by a patient during use without limiting the patient's movement or posture, alleviating awkwardness and discomfort caused to the patient by conventional fundus cameras. The aperture-optional head-mounted low-light fundus camera further improves image capture quality over conventional fundus cameras, by removing the need to use dexterity to align with eye pupil, minimizing image blur from errant movement, and eliminating visual artifacts from glares, haloes, reflections, and the like.
1 . An imaging device, comprising:
a camera housing configured to fasten to a head of a patient;
an eye enclosure configured to enclose an area around eyes of the patient;
a camera positioned within an internal cavity of the camera housing and directed towards an eye of the patient; and
an eye illumination apparatus disposed within the eye enclosure and comprising an outer cover enclosing a light source, the outer cover being opaque to light in substantially most directions except in one direction and is configured to pass light into an eye of a patient through a non-pupillary path, while maintaining a low-light condition within the eye enclosure while the camera housing is fastened to a head of a patient
wherein the camera comprises an entry optic and an image sensor; and
wherein the camera comprises an intrinsic entrance pupil having a diameter greater than 4 mm.
2 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein a light-sensitive side of the camera is positioned in the internal cavity toward an eye-facing side of the camera housing.
3 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the non-pupillary path comprises a trans-temple path through a forehead of the patient.
4 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the non-pupillary path and an imaging path of the image sensor do not coincide.
5 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the entry optic of the camera comprises a mirror-backed prism, and the image sensor is disposed lateral to the mirror-backed prism.
6 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the camera further comprises a mechanical actuator having degrees of freedom configured to orient the image sensor to capture a pupil of an eye of a patient within a range of possible orientations of the pupil.
7 . The imaging device of claim 6 , further comprising one or more processors configured by computer-executable instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media to:
analyze an image of the eye of the patient captured by the camera;
determine, based at least in part on the image of the eye, whether the pupil of the patient is captured within a field of view of the camera; and
signal the mechanical actuator to orient the camera to capture the pupil in the field of view.
8 . The imaging device of claim 1 , further comprising a second camera, wherein the second camera further comprises a second entry optic and a second image sensor;
wherein the camera is configured to capture incident light emitted from a pupil of a right eye of a patient; and
wherein the second camera is configured to capture incident light emitted from a pupil of a left eye of a patient.
9 . The imaging device of claim 1 , wherein the camera is laterally positionable within the camera housing by a mechanical actuator into at least a first position where a left eye of a patient is substantially captured in a field of view of the camera, and a second position where a right eye of the patient is substantially captured in the field of view of the camera.
10 . The imaging device of claim 1 , further comprising one or more processors configured by computer-executable instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media to transmit an image captured by the camera to a device or computing system configured to store, display, and analyze the image.
11 . An imaging device, comprising:
a camera housing configured to fasten to a head of a patient;
an eye enclosure configured to enclose an area around eyes of the patient;
a camera positioned within an internal cavity of the camera housing and directed towards an eye of the patient; and
an eye illumination apparatus disposed outside the eye enclosure and comprising an outer cover and a light source casting light which is substantially excluded by the eye enclosure, the outer cover being opaque to light in substantially most directions except in one direction configured to pass light into an eye of a patient through a non-pupillary path, while maintaining a low-light condition within the eye enclosure while the camera housing is fastened to a head of a patient
wherein the camera comprises an entry optic and an image sensor; and
wherein the camera comprises an intrinsic entrance pupil having a diameter greater than 4 mm.
12 . The imaging device of claim 11 , wherein the eye enclosure is opaque to light and non-rigid and is configured to maintain the low-light condition within the eye enclosure while the camera housing is fastened to the head of the patient.
13 . The imaging device of claim 12 , wherein a light-sensitive side of the camera is positioned in the internal cavity toward an eye-facing side of the camera housing.
14 . The imaging device of claim 11 , wherein the non-pupillary path comprises a trans-temple path through a forehead of the patient.
15 . The imaging device of claim 11 , wherein the non-pupillary path and an imaging path of the image sensor do not coincide.
16 . The imaging device of claim 11 , wherein the entry optic of the camera comprises a mirror-backed prism, and the image sensor is disposed lateral to the mirror-backed prism.
17 . The imaging device of claim 11 , wherein the camera further comprises a mechanical actuator having degrees of freedom configured to orient the image sensor to capture a pupil of an eye of a patient within a range of possible orientations of the pupil.
18 . The imaging device of claim 17 , further comprising one or more processors configured by computer-executable instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media to:
analyze an image of the eye of the patient captured by the camera;
determine, based at least in part on the image of the eye, whether the pupil of the patient is captured within a field of view of the camera; and
signal the mechanical actuator to orient the camera to capture the pupil in the field of view.
19 . The imaging device of claim 11 , further comprising a second camera, wherein the second camera further comprises a second entry optic and a second image sensor;
wherein the camera is configured to capture incident light emitted from a pupil of a right eye of a patient; and
wherein the second camera is configured to capture incident light emitted from a pupil of a left eye of a patient.